Worldshift Beta Reading and Discord

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Alright, I’ve finally gotten this entire novel written, edited, and prepared for beta reading. Writing a book takes a long time. Who knew? Here’s the plot summary of Worldshift: Virtual Revolution.

Society has grown rich thanks to automation and technology. As a result, jobs are scarce, but its easy for society to provide its people with all their basic needs. Strict proscriptions on research and development prevent disruption, while the government tightly controls commerce with the help of the mega corporations to prevent economic disharmony.

Ethan is young and unemployed. One of the many who fail to find a job and join the elite. Nonetheless, he lives a secure life thanks to the economic support he gets, and he finds excitement playing virtual reality games where he can take risks and lash out.

However, despite his security and determination to avoid what’s happening around him in the real world, he can’t help but feel that something is wrong with society. That feeling becomes inescapable when he starts playing the latest event in the world’s most popular game, Worldshift. Thousands of players are lured into climbing the Tower of Ascension by an incredible prize, where they team-up and battle amongst themselves, but nothing is as it seems. The tower is far more than a game. Not only are its rewards real, but so are its dangers.

Change is coming to a long stagnant world -a virtual revolution- and everything Ethan knows will be threatened.

Writing Worldshift was an experiment and an exercise to improve my writing craft. It’s a combination of a more traditional sci-fi and litrpg. I wanted a chance to write a contained story with a obvious beginning and end that was a single book in length. I also wanted the chance to really edit it several times before it was released, which you can’t do with a web serial. The end product is very different from The Iron Teeth, but I hope people like it. At over 160000 words it’s not short.

I believe that writing Worldshift made me a better writer though. Among other things, it allowed me to focus on how to craft interesting characters that feel more real and have contained arcs.

The beta draft of the novel is available to VIP tier users at Patreon if you’re interested in taking part in the beta reading. I’ve set up a discord server so that beta readers can discuss the novel.

If you’re not interested in that, then you can still head over to the discord to chat with people about my work. There are several channels where you can discuss different things. After the beta reading is done and I’ve done another round of editing, I plan in making this novel availible on Amazon.

Thanks for reading!

Bane of Humanity 12

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Blacknail’s left arm tingled numbly as it resisted his attempt to move it properly. He could only get it to shiver and twitch, which wasn’t nearly enough. He was in the middle of a sword fight and would have really liked to have both his arms working properly. Being hit by lightning sucked. 

Grunting, Blacknail eyed his two foes. The sword-wielding Vessel was grinning triumphantly as he brandished his weapon, while Zelena had a more serious look on her face. She was eyeing him carefully as she kept the magic jewelry in her hand pointed his way. Undoubtedly, she was already preparing to hit him with another blast of lightning. Blacknail was going to have to do something about that, but what? Hmm, magic would have to counter magic. 

Reaching down into himself, Blacknail grabbed control of the mana within his core and began circulating it through his body with increased intensity. Instantly, the tingling in his arm abated somewhat, but that hadn’t been Blacknail’s goal. Gathering some of the power up, Blacknail turned to growl at Zelena while he threw the invisible power straight at her. 

Unprepared, Zelena gasped and stumbled back as the magical terror washed over her. Her raised hand fell as she shivered uncontrollably for a moment. Her fearful reaction enflamed Blacknail’s predatory instincts. He wished he could have lunged forward and torn the woman apart, but he wasn’t given a chance. Seeing his ally falter, the human Vessel charged in to attack the hobgoblin. 

Steeling himself, Blacknail was forced to defend himself using a one-handed grip on his sword. It was less than ideal, and his lack of leverage quickly allowed the human to push him back. There was one upside though. Now that he was in close-quarters combat, Zelena couldn’t get a clear shot on him anymore. Yep, all he had to worry about was getting a sword shoved down his throat. Yeah!

Stumbling back over a loose brick, Blacknail hurriedly ducked under a vicious slash that had been aimed at his face. He then had to sidestep and dodge several more attacks from his enemy’s blade. He desperately tried to counterattack, but with only one hand, his attacks were easily blocked or dodged. 

Growling in frustration, Blacknail was pushed back toward a solid wall. The stone was crumbling, but that wouldn’t stop it from getting in his way. Desperately, Blacknail tried to step sideways, but Zelena cut him off and raised her hand menacingly. 

“Don’t even think about it. There is no escape for the likes of you,” she told him in a venomous tone. 

Stuck in place, Blacknail could only jerk his head backwards as the human Vessel stepped forward and attacked again. His blade was a blur of speed as it sliced toward the hobgoblin’s face. 

Blacknail’s dodge wasn’t quite fast enough. The sword bit into flesh and tasted blood as it sliced into Blacknail’s cheek. Yelping as he jumped back against the wall, Blacknail raised his weakened hand and clumsily felt up his face. Both his eyes were still working, good. The cut on his cheek wasn’t too deep, good. His nose… There was a chunk missing from the tip of his nose! Blacknail gagged and felt sick. No, this couldn’t be happening! His nose was his best feature, and now it was ruined forever. Would Herah even want to sleep with him anymore if he didn’t have a perfect long pointy nose? 

“My nose! Your deaths will be beyond pain!” Blacknail hissed furiously as he glared at his petty human attackers. How dare they cripple him so. He would tear them apart with his bare hands and then suck the marrow from their bones! 

The hobgoblin’s rage allowed him to pull up even more mana, which was helping his arm heal, but it was still very weak after being hit by Zelena’s lightning. More fear-based attacks probably wouldn’t be effective since he’d already used them on both his attackers and couldn’t rely on the element of surprise anymore. 

“You’re finished now. A wounded animal that doesn’t know its already dead,” the Vessel announced as he approached Blacknail with his blade raised. 

There was nothing the hobgoblin could do but ready his defenses. He was very aware of the cold stone wall behind him. There was nowhere to run and he was outmatched. His odds of surviving this weren’t great… No, he refused to die here without avenging his nose! Also, there was Saeter and Herad. He couldn’t forget about them. They needed to be avenged too, and he was so close. 

The enemy vessel stepped forward and launched a flurry of attacks that immediately put Blacknail on the defensive. As he desperately defended himself, the hobgoblin took two shallow cuts on his arms that began leaking blood. Any moment now, he was going to falter and take a fatal blow. Blacknail glanced hopefully over toward Ilisti’s fallen form, but the vympir was still completely out of it. What a lazy useless bastard. 

Suddenly, the combatants’ blades crashed together. The impact caused the steel to ring and sent a shiver down Blacknail’s arm. Then, the weapon slipped from his grasp. He could only stare in horror at his fumble. 

“Now you’re mine!” the vessel laughed triumphantly as he raised his blade to deliver the finishing blow. 

That was when a red-topped blur shot out from behind a pile of rubble and straight toward Zelena. The female mage spun around, but was too slow to prevent her attacker from stabbing her in the side. 

“Die, you stuck up bitch!” Khita laughed as she pulled her weapon back. “This will teach you to mess with the Red Cat!”  

The who? No, Khita’s nonsense wasn’t important. Blacknail concentrated on his enemies. 

Zelena gasped in pain and shock, although her wound didn’t look fatal. Meanwhile, her ally glanced over to see what was going on and hesitated upon noticing the new arrival. That moment was all Blacknail needed. He might have been disarmed, but he didn’t need a weapon to kill humans. He was a hobgoblin, a natural killer. Lunging forward, he dove in under the man’s raised sword and tackled his opponent to the ground. 

Gasping, the man tried to defend himself, but Blacknail was in close now. Driven by rage and cruel instinct, the mutant hobgoblin pulled himself up and chomped down on the vessel’s exposed neck. His long sharp teeth parted flesh with ease and a flick of his neck tore open a huge gaping wound. A half-gurgle scream filled the air, before Blacknail silenced it by taking another big bite. Now the man was reduced to a shivering pile of meat whose life was quickly draining away. 

The taste of blood and the feel of flesh in Blacknail’s mouth was deeply satisfying, even if humans didn’t taste great. Still, he let himself swallow the meat and then purr happily as he got to his feet, leaving his defeated foe beneath him. Normally, he wouldn’t eat humans, but he deserved to take something back from the stupid human that had crippled his nose. Really, the man had gotten off too easy. 

Up ahead, Zelena was still dealing with Khita. As Blacknail watched, she threw the redhead back with a blast of force. Holding her bleeding side, she then glanced toward Blacknail. A look of pure horror appeared on her face as she saw the blood-soaked and manically grinning hobgoblin stalking toward her. Stumbling back, she grabbed an amulet that hung around her neck. Blacknail prepared to dodge an attack, but none came. Instead, Zelena’s image became hazy and then disappeared a moment later, leaving Blacknail blinking in surprise. 

“Um, where did that blonde whore go?” Khita asked in surprise. 

“I don’t know,” Blacknail replied as he looked around. “How are you even here? I thought you ran from the cold.” 

The redhead chuckled and stuck her chest out proudly. “As if that could keep me away from a good fight. Once I got warmed up, I ran back into the cold and took one of those fancy amulets off a fallen knight.” 

There was still no sign of Zelena, but Blacknail had bigger concerns. Climbing up onto a small pile of rubble, Blacknail looked over toward the fight with Myagnoir. 

Things there weren’t going particular well. Lacking Sir Masnin’s leadership and shinning example, the remaining fighters from the first group had scattered before the Doom of Coroulis’ rage. No longer encircled, the great mutant drake was now retreating off the road and into an alley between two tall buildings. Werrick’s riders were already abandoning their next charge, as they realized they wouldn’t make it in time. Myagnoir had been gravelly wounded, but it was far from finished and was getting away. 

Blacknail growled furiously and his fingers curled up into claws. This was all Werrick’s fault! He’d set Sir Masnin up to die by not supporting him properly and he’d sent valuable fighters after Ilisti instead of using them to fight Myagnoir. The selfish bastard was ruining everything. 

Khita climbed up beside Blacknail and observed the fight too. “Well, that sucks donkey balls.” 

As Blacknail watched, Werrick’s riders came to stop alongside the scattered remains of Sir Masnin’s force. The Wolf began yelling orders, but it was obvious that Myagnoir had escaped. Then, the air shimmered next to Werrick’s horse and Zelena appeared. The two quickly began talking and then the male femage pointed straight toward Blacknail and Khita’s location. 

“Huh, that’s even worse,” the redhead observed as the hobgoblin groaned. 

At least Blacknail’s arm was feeling better now. He flexed his fingers and they responded almost normally, although they were still weak. 

Blacknail took a moment to watch what Werrick was doing, and he really didn’t like it. His archenemy seemed to be giving a rousing speech to the other humans, who were responding and getting worked up. It also didn’t appear that he was pointing them in Myagnoir’s direction. No, he punctuated one particularly loud bout of yelling by gesturing toward Blacknail’s location. 

This was not good. It was obvious that most the humans in the expedition had barely tolerated the hobgoblins’ presence, and Blacknail had known that Sir Masnin was the only one keeping everyone else in line. However, the paladin was gone now, and it seemed like Werrick was having no problem taking over and turning everyone against Blacknail. In fact, he seemed to consider getting rid of Blacknail more of a priority than finishing off Myagnoir. Werrick’s riders reformed and began moving toward Blacknail. 

“Ugh, what do we do now, boss?” Khita asked him. Blacknail snorted. So, he was her boss now? 

“We run away,” he replied as he hopped down from the pile of rubble and ran over to Ilisti’s side. 

Thankfully, the vympir was awake. He groaned and gave Blacknail a questioning look. “What happened?”

“A big lizard smacked you with its tail before eating Sir Masnin. Now everyone is trying to kill us. You need to get up,” Blacknail told him.

This earned them a confused stare, but the hobgoblin and the redhead simply grabbed his armor and pulled him up into something resembling a standing position. He wobbled a bit but didn’t fall over. 

Staring into the vympir’s eyes, Blacknail gave him some stern advice. “You need to run and hide for a while. Don’t let the humans find you.”

Ilisti nodded and straightened up, so they let him stand on his own. 

“We’ll buy you some time. It’s us they want,” Khita added proudly. 

Blacknail stared at her. That was not part of his plan, and why was she including herself? Werrick couldn’t care less about her. Did she want to be hunted? Stupid human. 

Werrick was on his way, so they didn’t hang around. The allies split up and ran into the ruins, with Khita and Blacknail going one way, while Ilisti went to find somewhere to hide. As he ran, Blacknail could hear the pounding of hooves as Werrick closed in. At least all the rubble and tight turns would slow the horses down a lot, and Blacknail had a plan. He needed to make it out of the lost city and rendezvous with his hobs. 

Glancing over his shoulder as he ran, Blacknail saw a horseman ride out from behind a building. 

“This way. I found the treacherous creature!” the rider yelled to signal to all his companions. 

Blacknail bristled as he grabbed Khita and pulled her around a corner so they couldn’t be seen so easily. Treacherous creature? He’d never betrayed the expedition! He’d never had a chance. It had been Werrick that had done that. All these stupid humans were going to pay for being so dumb. 

There was shouting from behind Blacknail and Khita as they ran toward the gate they’d come in through. This was quickly followed by some yelling over to Blacknail’s left. It seemed like the horsemen were spreading out to flank them. All the nearby ruined homes and bushes made it difficult for Werrick’s men to find them, but it also made it almost impossible for Blacknail to see what Werrick was planning as well. 

“This way!” the hobgoblin told Khita as he veered right away from the noise. 

Running down a narrow side street, the pair passed several small buildings that had mostly fallen apart. Empty windows and shadowy doors surrounded them, but they saw no signs of movement. 

“We’re not going to run into Myagnoir, are we?” Khita asked nervously. “That thing’s still out here.”

“No, it went in the other direction,” Blacknail replied. Or, at least he’d thought it had. All these bleached stone buildings looked the same and he’d gotten a little turned around. 

Suddenly, there was a clatter of hooves, and a knight on horseback rode out onto the street ahead of them. Blacknail and Khita immediately scrambled to a stop as the armored warrior turned his mount around to face them and yelled to get his allies’ attention. 

“Boar crap,” Blacknail cursed as the knight began charging toward them. They wouldn’t be able to outrun the rider in the open. 

“Through here,” the hobgoblin yelled as he ran over to one of the nearby homes and jumped through a window.

Landing on his feet, Blacknail kept running through the empty building. The only thing in his way was some wooden debris on the floor and a lot of dust. All the home’s furniture had long since fallen apart. Behind him, Khita jumped inside the building just as Blacknail vaulted through another window on the far side of the room. Once outside, the hobgoblin found himself on another side street. The old crumbling buildings were tightly packed together here, so there was no way the knight could come over here. Good, that meant they were safe for a moment.  

Khita landed next to Blacknail, and they both began running again. Blacknail was fairly certain they were headed for the gate. He would have asked Khita, but she was useless. 

Using his long pointy ears, Blacknail listened carefully for any sign of pursuit. He could hear at least two group of riders off in the distance, but neither was ahead of them. The riders kept yelling at each other, so locating them wasn’t hard. Hmm, was heading for the gate the best idea? They might be able to climb over the city wall if they could find a spot where some of those thick vines had grown up over the outside. Well, the way to the gate seemed open for now, so they’d try that first. 

The narrow residential street the pair were on led to the city wall, so Blacknail and Khita took it all the way there before turning left toward the gate. They could see the top of it above some rows of ruined buildings, but there was no straight road leading to there. Still, with no other real choice, they sprinted in the direction of the gate. 

Unfortunately, that was when Werrick finally caught up to them. As Blacknail glanced down another side street as he ran past it, he saw the bandit lord and a dozen riders charging right for him. Not good! There was a vicious snarl on the Wolf’s face, and none his followers seemed willing to talk over their differences either. 

As the stampede of horsemen turned the corner and began chasing the pair down, Balcknail considered his options. They were all bad. Khita and him were already running with everything they had, but the riders were still closing in. Stupid vile horses! Blacknail hated all of those hateful beasts. How was riding a big animal like that fair? It wasn’t!

The huffing and wheezing of the knights’ mounts reached Blacknail’s ears as they drew in closer. 

“Run the filth down! Avenge our fallen,” Werrick yelled to the cheers of the other riders. They sounded as if they were only a few feet away, but were actually at least twenty seconds behind.  

Blacknail grimaced as he tried to circulate mana through his body to increase his speed. It didn’t work very well. He was running out of mana. It had been a while since he’d had a chance to recharge, and he’d been using his powers an awful lot today. Meanwhile, Werrick’s group drew ever closer. 

The hobgoblin knew that he could speed up a little, but then he’d leave Khita behind, and he wouldn’t actually be able to escape anyway. It was the later part that mattered there. Maybe he could pick Khita up and throw her at Werrick? Ugh, knowing the redhead, she’d somehow survive that, and then he’d be run down. Damn them to every hell! He was so close to getting what he wanted. If only Werrick hadn’t started his terrible plan before Blacknail could start his own amazing one. Well, that was probably the entire point. Werrick was smart enough to know that Blacknail held all the advantages when they claimed the silver. 

That was when things got much worse. Dashing around a turn, Blacknail and Khita found themselves facing a dead end. A huge pile of stone blocked their way toward the gate. It looked like a watchtower had fallen off the city wall, and now its bulk was completely blocking the road. 

As the hobgoblin and the redhead slowed, one of the riders next to Werrick dashed ahead and closed in on them from behind. Sword raised high, he prepared to strike at Blacknail. 

Bane of Humanity 11

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After sending Ilisti flying with a swipe of his its tail, Myagnoir shifted its weight and hunched up defensively. Most of the human warriors had already managed to get themselves or their mounts free from the ice that the mutant drake had bound their feet with, and they were now closing in to keep up the attack. Sir Masnin was the most aggressive. Ducking under a slash from a claw, he hacked at the beast’s ankle before backing off. Red marred the drake’s scales. It looked like he’d drawn blood. 

Werrick had been hanging back with a squad of knights, but at that moment, he finally urged his men forward toward the drake. Blacknail hissed in annoyance as he watched them. Werrick had certainly taken his time, a suspicious amount of it. Either he was a coward, or he was playing a very dangerous game. 

The clatter of hooves on stone filled the air as the knights charged, causing Myagnoir to glance in their direction. The drake then turned and opened its mouth, as if to roar at them or assault them with magic, but Sir Masnin immediately leaped into action. 

“Press the attack! We must keep the beast occupied!” he yelled as he jumped forward to stab the beast in the leg again. Pulling his lance free, he then stabbed at Myagnoir’s underbelly. 

At the same time, several of his subordinates were also moving in to threaten the mutant drake and hack at its vulnerable spots. This forced to Myagnoir to turn back and confront them, lest it leave its soft belly vulnerable to their glowing weapons. The great beast stumbled back and bit at them with its humongous jaws. Wary of the creature’s jagged teeth, which were the size of men’s forearms, all of Sir Masnin’s men were pushed back. Even the armored paladin would die instantly if bitten. 

However, it had never been Sir Masnin’s job to wound the drake. His squad and him were only supposed to surround it and pin it down, which they’d accomplished. Crouched defensively, Myagnoir was completely open to the charge from Werrick and the knights. Galloping at full-speed they made a close pass against the drake with heat-lances levelled. Myagnoir’s back was covered by thick scales, but the magical weapons managed to cut through it. As knight after knight rode past, almost a dozen long smoking wounds appeared on the drake’s hide. 

Roaring in pain, Myagnoir swirled around and lashed out at Werrick with a claw, Blacknail grinned expectantly, but the bandit lord saw the attack coming and managed to lead his mount out of the way of the blow. That was disappointing, but Myagnoir wasn’t done yet. Still roaring, the beast attacked with his other front claw, and this time he managed to hit his target. The beast’s claws ripped into an armored knight, going right through his steel plate armor and severing the man’s arm. He fell screaming as his terrified mount ran past. 

Blacknail watched all this with mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation. The battle was fun to watch, and his allies had gotten in some good blows, but he wasn’t sure they were winning. They’d lost almost half a dozen fighters, and he wasn’t sure they’d done any real damage to their foe. If the beast didn’t start to grow tired and weak, it seemed unlikely that they’d win this fight. Ilisti’s fall in particular had severely hurt their chances. 

Sighing, Blacknail began to make his way closer to the fight. He should probably check on his vympir ally. He could do that without getting too close to the giant murder drake, and it might turn the fight around. Blacknail needed the humans to win this battle. His own plans depended on it, and he’d rather not deal with the boggarts alone. 

As the last of Werrick’s mounted warriors rode out of the fight, Myagnoir was free to deal with Sir Masnin and the others again. Their battle resumed as the warriors worked together in an attempt to keep the beast distracted and prevent it from moving around too much. They needed to keep it on the road. The drake bit and slashed at them as they ducked in and out of combat. 

Soon, Blacknail reached the pile of rubble where Ilisti had fallen. Amongst the shattered stone and dusty bricks, he easily spotted the vympir’s dark armor. It glinted in the sunlight despite the dust.  

Looking the scene over, Blacknail saw that Ilisti seemed intact, although he appeared to be unconscious. That, or dead. It was hard to tell. Thankfully, his armor seemed to only have a few small dents in it and he didn’t appear to be bleeding everywhere. Grunting, the hobgoblin removed some rocks from atop the vympir and then pulled his helmet off so he could get a better look. 

Ilisti’s black hair was plastered all across his pale face and his eyes were closed. Blacknail studied him for a moment, and then poked him in the cheek several times. That failed to provoke a reaction, so Blacknail put his finger under the man’s nose to check for breathing. His first thought had been to lean over and listen, but he’d quickly discarded that idea. For some reason, he was concerned about the unconscious vympir lurching awake and biting his neck. 

That turned out to be an unnecessary worry. A moment after Blacknail had put his finger under the vympir’s noise, his eyes fluttered open and he began coughing. Ah, he was definitely alive! Blacknail grinned happily. Time to get him back in the fight!

“Ack, what is that smell?” the vympir groaned before coughing weakly again. His black eyes seemed unfocused, and he collapsed a second later. 

Oh, no. Ilisti was still clearly still out of it. Blacknail sighed as he withdrew his digit. Unlike a human, he knew he smelled great. Ilisti was definitely still out of it. Yep. 

Before deciding what to do next, Blacknail took a moment to study the ongoing battle. He didn’t want to be caught by surprise if the flow of the fight suddenly changed or if Myagnoir headed his way. 

Sir Masnin and his subordinates still had Myagnoir on the defensive, although it seemed that they’d lost one or two more members. Blacknail wasn’t the best at counting, but that’s what it looked like to him. The warriors and knights surrounded the beast and kept it busy by lunging in to attack its scaly body before it could counterattack. 

Meanwhile, Werrick’s mounted force had finished turning around and was coming in for another charge. Every one of their lances was pointed straight toward the drake and they shimmered with constrained heat. 

Seeing his allies’ approach, Sir Masnin redoubled his efforts and began yelling orders. “Keep the beast constrained and we can end this! Don’t let up.” 

As the knights thundered closer, the paladin ran in to distract Myagnoir again. Moving quickly, he stabbed one of the beast’s front feet while it was looking the other way. The drake snarled but couldn’t spare the time and focus to do more than half-heartedly try to backhand Sir Masnin away. The clumsy counterattack missed. Myagnoir was being pressed in on all sides by the other human fighters. It had to keep turning and snapping to keep them away from its belly. 

Seeing the horsemen closing in again, Myagnoir attempted to raise another shield of freezing air. All the fighters stumbled back away from the swirling vortex, but that simply gave the remaining kingdom mages a clear shot. Almost immediately, a beam of fire shot out of the nearby ruins and seared through the shield, dispersing it. 

That cleared the way for Sir Masnin and his men to dive back into combat. Myagnoir caught one mounted knight and violently slapped him and his steed aside with a claw, but the others kept up their attack. Blacknail found their tenacity impressive, or maybe they were simply desperate now. Regardless, several of their weapons bit into Myagnoir’s flesh as they put themselves at risk to distract the beast from their charging allies. Leading from the front, Sir Masnin threw himself right into the fray. Perhaps realizing that they desperately needed to land a solid blow on the mutant drake soon, he challenged Myagnoir head on.

“For honor. For humanity. For divinity!” the paladin roared as he ran straight toward the beast’s head. 

Accepting the challenge, Myagnoir let out a vicious growl and turned to give the paladin an intense glare that caused both its yellow eyes to glow intensely for a moment.  Then, its neck extended like a snake’s as it snapped at Sir Masnin with lightning speed. Moving just as quickly, the paladin blurred as he dodged the closing teeth by throwing himself sideways. He then slashed at the beast’s neck. His lance parted the scales, leaving a long gash that quickly began gushing out blood. It wasn’t a shallow cut. The Doom of Coroulis had been truly wounded now. 

However, now Sir Masnin was off-balance and exposed. Blacknail glanced toward Werrick’s force and growled angrily. The bandit lord had slowed down his charge for some reason, and that meant Sir Masnin was alone and unsupported. If Werrick hadn’t slowed, his force would have hit Myagnoir already and drawn his attention, but now the beast could focus on the annoyance in front of it. 

Rearing back, Myagnoir swiped at Sir Masnin with one of its front claws. The paladin tried to dodge by jumping back, but the tips of the claws caught the edge of his silver armor, causing him to stumble. Off-balance, he was stuck in place as the Doom of Coroulis snarled and snapped at him again. Blacknail’s heart skipped a beat as he watched. This time, the drake’s huge jaws closed down on the paladin, piercing armor and cutting deep into flesh. A flick of Myagnoir’s neck then pulled the man up into air, so that the drake could to flip him into his mouth. The beast then began chewing as an incredibly satisfied expression appeared on its face. Blacknail winced. This was bad for so many reasons. He’d actually liked Sir Masnin. He was rather fair and practical for a human, despite his suicidal need to fight monsters and protect people. 

Only then did Werrick begin his attack, while the drake was still chewing and swallowing. The bandit lord and the rest of his mounted squad held their heat-lances steady as they zoomed toward Myagnoir’s exposed side. Werrick led the way and was the first to plunge his lance into the drake’s side as the riders made their second pass. The weapon sizzled as it slid over three feet into the beast. It then got stuck, and Werrick was forced ride on without it. The assault didn’t end there though. All of the other riders brought their own weapons to bear on the drake’s side. Myagnoir screamed in pain loudly enough to shake the air and hurt Blacknail’s ears. He winced, and a ringing noise lingered even after the beast fell silent. 

As the knights rode past, they left Myagnoir’s hide a bloody mess of long bleeding wounds. Despite the creature’s immense bulk, Blacknail knew that he’d been gravelly injured. He just wished Werrick hadn’t been the one to do it, and that Sir Masnin hadn’t been chewed up and swallowed like a dry biscuit. Blacknail found the timing of Werrick’s delay deeply suspicious. It had been a little convenient for him and far too inconvenient for everyone that stood in his way. The Wolf was obviously making his move, so Blacknail would have to be wary and accelerate his own plans. Being all alone in the ruins made that difficult though. Where had all his minions ended up? 

Blacknail’s dark thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rubble tumbling behind him. He glanced over his shoulder at Ilisti, but the vympir hadn’t moved. He was still lying on the ground. Instead, the noise appeared to have come from further back, out of sight. Blacknail frowned as he studied the ruins, but he didn’t have to wait long. A man stepped into sight a moment later, and he was swiftly followed by a woman. They both quickly spotted Blacknail and gave him furious glares that made their unfriendly intentions clear, before briefly glancing at Ilisti’s fallen form. 

Both humans were familiar to Blacknail, which was unsurprising. The idea of some random unknown humans wandering into Coroulis at this time was rather silly. The man was one Werrick’s thugs, who had stuck close to his leader over the entire journey. He was tall with a smooth face and a bald head that Blacknail approved of, although his intelligent and convenient hairstyle didn’t make him any less of an enemy. The longsword he was holding made that clear. 

Blacknail instantly recognized the woman. It was Werrick’s lieutenant Zelena. Her long blonde hair, feminine elegance, and stylish furs made her quite unique among the expedition members. Even Blacknail would never mistake her for any other human. She wasn’t armed with any obvious weapon, but delicate gold chains hung from one of her hands, and Blacknail knew not to underestimate her. She had caused trouble for him before and was one of Werrick’s most trusted subordinates.

“What are you doing here?” Blacknail asked them as he gripped the hilt of his sword with one hand. 

Zelena stepped forward and smiled in a way that failed completely to be anything like friendly. “I would ask you the same, but it’s obvious. We both came here to check on the wounded. Why don’t you leave this to us?”

“No, go away now,” Blacknail replied coldly as he drew his weapon. The blade slid free of the sheath with subtle ringing sound. There was no way his guests had good intentions. They certainly had no reason to help Ilisti, who was Werrick’s enemy. 

Instead of replying, Werrick’s minions stepped forward to confront Blacknail and their expression’s hardened. Warily, Blacknail moved to intercept them. He didn’t think they were stupid enough to not realize how amazing he was, so he stayed light on his feet and ready to move. They undoubtedly had some hidden weapons of their own. 

The hobgoblin was right, as usual. Zelena raised her chain covered hand, revealing her palm and the golden disc nestled there. There was a very magical looking white crystal in the center of it. 

Blacknail was already dodging sideways as a blast of lightning shot out of the crystal and tore through the space he’d been occupying less than a second ago. Still moving, Blacknail dove toward the swordsman, so that he could use him as a shield against further magical attacks. He got within range of the man easily enough and then unleashed a flurry of vicious slashes. 

Surprisingly, the swordsman managed to defend himself. Steel loudly clashed against steel as their blades met in a storm of incredibly quick blows. Blacknail grunted in effort as he kept up his attack. The man was not only skilled, he was also too fast to be a normal human. He was a Vessel. This complicated things. Blacknail had been right to be cautious. He was up against both a mage and a Vessel. Werrick must have gone to quite some effort to keep their abilities hidden from the rest of the expedition. 

Hoping to knock his opponent off-balance, Blacknail tapped into his core and began radiating his fear aura as he slashed down at the man’s face. The magical terror hit the enemy swordsman, causing him to flinch, but he recovered instantly. Blacknail’s attack was sidestepped, and their clash continued. 

While Blacknail was fighting the swordsman, Zelena attempted to slip around and get a clear shot at Blacknail, but he didn’t let her. Keeping one eye on her, he made sure to maneuver the swordsman between them whenever she moved. He didn’t feel like getting hit by lightning. 

“This isn’t working. Push the savage freak away!” Zelena suddenly ordered the man. 

Nodding, the swordsman suddenly stepped forward to block one of Blacknail’s attacks. Their blades met with a loud metallic ring and then locked together as the fighters’ muscles strained against each other. 

Blacknail attempted to gather up mana to empower himself so he could overpower his arrogant human foe, but then the air around the man began to shimmer. Immediately, Blacknail tried to disengage, but he was committed to his attack and couldn’t just flee. He tried parrying his enemy by stepping to the side and redirecting the blow, but he was too late. The shimmering suddenly stopped, and then the air around the swordsman exploded. The blast wave hit Blacknail hard, lifting him up and throwing him back several feet, but he managed to land on his feet. He didn’t seem injured either, or at least nothing worse than bruises. He could keep fighting and the pain simply made him angrier.

“That’s cheating. Fight fair,” Blacknail complained as he steadied himself. Magic was so unfair. He hated it. What kind of jerk used magic like that in the middle of a sword fight? 

The real problem was his positioning. Blacknail winced and readied himself for trouble. The swordsman had taken advantage of the blast to step backwards, clearing Zelena’s line of fire. She was already aiming her mana stone his way. 

Lightning burst out of the white crystal and reached for Blacknail with incredible speed. He tried to dodge, but he was slightly too slow. The edge of the bolt caught his arm, sending burning pain through his entire left side and setting his coat on fire. Thankfully, it was only a small flame that quickly went out. Of more concern was the numbness. Blacknail’s left arm felt limp and weak. He wouldn’t be able to fight properly with it anymore. 

The swordsman smirked as he approached the hobgoblin. “We’ve got the bloody creature now. To think this subhuman has caused the boss so much trouble. He’s nothing much!” 

Bane of Humanity 10

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Blacknail shuddered as an unnatural cold assaulted him. It burned as it stabbed through his flesh and seeped into his blood. Gritting his teeth, Blacknail steadied himself and looked toward the Doom of Coroulis. 

“Keep running!” he told his minions as he raised a hand to shield his eyes from the cold. They felt like they were freezing and cracking, but he could see fine.

The mutant drake was still perched atop the remains of the ruined home. Its intense yellow eyes seemed to focus on Blacknail as the other hobgoblins ran past him. Blacknail took a moment to study it in turn. It was gigantic, much larger than even many of the fancy homes of Coroulis. The mutant had the body of a grey-scaled lizard, but with a crest of blue feathers on its head that ran all the way down its back. The Doom was without a doubt unmatched predator. Its jaws were so thick and powerful they looked like they could crush boulders, and its magic abilities were made obvious by the blue crystal spikes sticking out of its skin. 

Saeter had mentioned this beast quite a lot, usually as some form of curse word. Saeter had never said it directly, he’d almost never talked about himself, but others had told Blacknail that his master had been here when the city had fallen. His master had also apparently seen the mutant with his own eyes, just like Blacknail was now. The Doom was one of his master’s enemies, which was one of the reasons Blacknail had agreed to come here. All his master’s foes needed to die. That was Blacknail’s mission. That was the hunger that drove him forward despite the pain and loss. 

“Form up and activate your amulets!” Sir Masnin yelled from down the street. As the same time, many other humans began shouting and screaming. They sighted Myagnoir.

Sir Masnin’s words brought Blacknail back to reality and reminded him that he had a heating amulet of his own, so he quickly reached up to activate it. As soon as his fingers squeezed it, he felt the oppressive cold retreat as warmth flooded out of the protective trinket. Blacknail would have felt relieved, but that was when the Doom decided to hop down from the building and began stalking his way. Right. He needed to get the hells out of here. He wasn’t actually planning on killing the Doom himself. That would be beyond stupid, like something Khita would try to do. 

Turning around, Blacknail sprinted toward the humans down the street as quickly as he could, which was faster than he’d ever moved before. The humongous predator behind him gave him plenty of motivation to push himself.

Up ahead, Sir Masnin was readying his force to meet the Doom. Taking advantage of the wide street, they’d formed up into two lines of riders, and Blacknail saw that many of them were armed with the mages’ heat lances. Lord Ilisti and Werrick both had them and were on either side of Sir Masnin. Behind the riders were the mages and warriors without lances. One of the mage’s was already holding up a glowing staff. It burned with orange light and the air around it shimmered lightly.

There was a loud crack as stone shattered beneath Myagnoir’s weight as he ran. Blacknail flinched and looked back. He was almost to his allies now, but the drake had closed the distance considerably, even if it didn’t seem to be moving nearly as fast as it could. Instead, it seemed aggressive but wary. 

In fact, Myagnoir slowed instead of charging straight ahead at the riders. It roared – shaking the air – and then the crystals jutting from its back glowed menacingly. Immediately, frost appeared on the ruins around the beast, the air above it swirled violently, and then two huge jagged shards of ice formed above the drake. Soon, they were both larger than a horse. 

As Myagnoir roared again, and the ice shards shot forth. The first went straight toward Sir Masnin and the other riders. There were fearful shouts as the icy projectile closed in on the humans, but then one of the mage’s responded. He raised his staff and it let out a pulse of roiling red flame. This wave of burning power washed over incoming spear of ice and disintegrated it. The humans were completely unharmed. 

However, Blacknail didn’t have time to feel relieved. The second icy spear had been hurled his way. Panic raced though Blacknail as he reached into his core and grabbed as much magic as he could. Shoving the magic into his muscles, he threw himself sideways out of the way of the ice spear. His body burned from the effort as a wave of cold overpowered his amulet and prickled his skin, but a moment later, the huge projectile flew past him. He’d dodged it! He was still alive. 

One of the hobgoblins in front of him wasn’t so fortunate. The spear slammed right into him. His body didn’t even slow it. He simply disappeared as the icy projectile slammed into him, and then they both flew into one of the ruined homes alongside the street. The impact threw a cloud of dust up into the air as the building collapsed in on itself. There was no sign of the now very dead hobgoblin, except a single boot he’d left behind on the street. It was just sitting there where he’d been standing a moment ago. Blacknail had no idea how that had happened, but he couldn’t spare it a thought. Myagnoir was still charging toward him. 

As the drake roared again, Blacknail resumed his frantic dash toward his allies. As he moved, he noted that Herah was already there. So much for her never leaving his side or whatever! He would remember this. 

A moment later, Blacknail reached the line of horsemen and quickly charged past them without stopping. He didn’t plan on being anywhere near them when the fight started. He wasn’t getting paid to fight city killing monsters. He’d found the thing for them, so now killing it was the humans’ job. 

Sir Masnin raised his lance and began shouting more orders. “Forward knights! For righteousness, and for humanity! Flank the beast like we’ve planned and target its weak underbelly as you pass.” 

As soon as he was done yelling, there was a determined cheer from the other mounted warriors, and then the paladin sprang into action. Shouting wordlessly, he urged his horse forward and it began charging toward the enemy. A moment later, the other knights and warriors followed. Splitting apart, the charging horsemen went up both sides of the road, leaving the center open. Obviously, they planned on flanking Maygnoir instead of facing him head on. This plan also had they advantage of giving the mages that had remained behind a clear line of fire, which they immediately took advantage of. Lances of searing flame and hissing fireballs shot toward the mutant drake. 

Seeing the incoming fire, Myagnoir roared again and the air around him began to swirl like a miniature cyclone. Then, the vortex was filled with swirling white shards of ice, turning the exterior of the cyclone into something that almost looked like a solid barrier that completely surrounded the drake. Blacknail felt the tip of his long nose freeze for a second before his amulet adjusted. The battleground had grown even colder. Now, white sparkling frost was everywhere, on both the ground and the nearby ruins. It was a good thing that the mage with the orange staff was shielding all the humans that didn’t have amulets. They’d all probably be dead without the shimmering haze of heat that was radiating from the staff. After the battle, Blacknail would have to look for an opportunity to acquire it when no one was looking. It be nice to have over the winter. 

Up ahead, the mages’ fiery spells slammed into the drake’s freezing cyclone, creating explosions of steam and throwing the cyclone into chaos. It grew more frenzied and chaotic as every blast hit it, until it began to shrink and fade.

Growling, Myagnoir eyed the charging knights and abandoned his cyclonic shield. As it faded, he came to a stop and smashed one of his front claws into the stone of the road. Immediately, the earth rumbled and an unnerving cracking filled the air. A second later, as everyone watched breathlessly, the road in front of Myagnoir erupted violently. Huge jagged shard of ice burst out of the ground, lifting up tons of earth and stone to form a huge wall right in front of Myagnoir. The mage’s fireballs slammed into the icy barrier and exploded without doing much in the way of damage. 

“Forward, for country and divinity!” Sir Masnin yelled as he rode past the wall. His subordinates streamed after him. Blacknail saw Ilisti and Werrick ride past the other side as well. 

Regardless of the ice wall, the knights were too close to Mayagnoir for the mages to keep throwing fire at the beast, so they lowered their staffs to watch like everyone else. 

Although the ice wall was partly in the way, Blacknail could still see almost everything. As he watched, the two lines of knights streamed toward Myagnoir. The massive drake growled and swiped at Sir Masnin with one of its claws, but the paladin and his horse managed to dodge the attack and make it past the beast unscathed. This also gave the other group of knights an opening that they ruthlessly exploited. Charging in, Werrick stabbed one of the mutant’s legs with his fire-lance.

Myagnor screamed in pain but reacted quickly and smoothly. The great drake spun around, so that its tail swiped at the knights from behind. Scattering, most the knights were forced to abandon their charge, and two of them were hit by the long scaly appendage. The impact sent both men and horse flying off the road and into the ruins. Judging by the loud snapping sound of armor and bone breaking he’d heard, Blacknail was sure they wouldn’t be getting back up. 

However, not all the riders missed their chance at the drake. Lord Ilsisti managed to duck under the tail and continue on. Before swerving away, his fire-lance bit deep into the side of Myagnoir, leaving a bleeding and faintly smoking gash. The drake’s scales were thinner near its belly. It was injured, but not enough to hamper it. Ice-cold malevolence radiated from its yellow eyes as it glared at the humans. 

Myagnoir roared in defiance and rage once the last its foes had streamed past. The beast seemed insulted at being injured by such tiny attackers, even if it had only taken minor wounds. However, the roar was more than a scream of defiance. A blast of freezing air surged away from the drake toward the retreating knights. Thankfully, they managed to dodge the center of the icy blast, and their amulets protected them from the freezing winds that swirled around it. This seemed to infuriate Myagnoir further, it scratched the ground with one of its claws – tearing up paving stones – and let out a low menacing growl. 

Turning away from the knights that were now attempting to reform for another charge, Myagnoir peered around the wall of ice and rubble it had made, and directly at Blacknail and the people near him. 

“Uh oh!” Herah remarked. She’d shamelessly made her way over to his side now that it was safe. 

“Bah, that stupid lizard can’t hurt us,” Khita said dismissively. She’d also wandered over from somewhere. 

“Ya, we’re probably fine,” Blacknail replied. There were over a dozen humans in front of him, including two mages. While they may not have been knights or Vessels, they were still heavily armed warriors. They also had plenty of defensive magic. If Myagnoir attacked them, he’d simply be opening himself to an attack from behind by the knights while he was distracted. Blacknail almost wished he would do that. 

However, Blacknail’s confident sneer soon grew lopsided. As he watched, Myagnoir took a step back behind the icy wall, spun around in a circle, and slammed his tail into a boulder that was sitting atop his wall. There was a loud cracking noise as the ice broke, and then the boulder was sent flying straight toward the center of the humans’ formation. Flying with startling speed, it was headed right at the mage with the orange staff. Immediately, the mages tried to defend themselves. A shield of fire rose into the air and a fiery lance shot toward the boulder. However, the lance shattered the boulder without stopping it, and the rock shards were blackened by the shield but not deflected. Before the mages could raise a more appropriate defense, the shower of stone slammed into the center of the human formation. Screams filled the air as the rocks tore into flesh and bounced across the road. 

Blacknail was out of the immediate danger area but he still threw himself further away, just in case. Herah and Khita landed next to him a moment later.

“Stupid lizard is smart,” Blacknail growled as he picked himself off the ground a few moments later. He should have known better than to ever agree with Khita. She was always wrong. Always!

Looking around, Blacknail saw that the mage with the orange staff was definitely dead. Both his body and his staff had been torn to pieces by the deadly hail, dissipating the heat aura he’d been creating. That was very bad. Blacknail saw that everyone nearby was already starting to feel the effects of the cold. He was the only one – other than the remaining mage – who had a protective amulet. 

“So cold! It’s freezing, boss,” Herah groaned as he climbed to her feet. She was hugging herself and shivering uncontrollably. 

Khita nodded in agreement. “Ya, it’s colder than a noble’s heart all of sudden.”

“Get out of here,” Blacknail ordered them as he gave Herah a push. She didn’t move fast enough, so Khita grabbed her arm and began leading her away. The redhead seemed to have some protection from the cold thanks to her status as a Vessel. 

Almost all the nearby humans were running or stumbling away now too. With the death of the mage protecting them, their entire formation had been destroyed and become a chaotic mess. Blacknail grimaced as he looked around. Although the Doom had turned back around to face the knights charging its way, this probably wasn’t the smartest place to stand. He was exposed and alone in the middle of street. Thus, Blacknail jogged over into the nearby ruined buildings to look for somewhere he could watch the action from. 

Blacknail found a perch on a nearby wall just in time to see Sir Masnin and the others make their second pass. The thundering of horse hooves grew louder as they approached with lances ready. The Doom growled at them and launched several small ice spears their way, but none of them hit. Two were blocked by a hazy shield created by a mage, and the other missed the riders completely. 

Sir Masnin lead the first group of knights that charged at Myagnoir from its left. The massive drake appeared to have learned caution from its last run in with the knights. Instead of the facing its attackers head on, it swiped at the paladin and jumped back. Sir Masnin tried to dodge, but he took a glancing blow from the claws. He swayed back, but didn’t fall, thanks to his heavy armor. A few second later, he rode past the mutant drake. The other knights attempted to stab the Doom, but it displayed a surprising amount of agility. Dodging away, it avoided the knights in the first group, and then it spun around again to avoid the second group trying to flank it. As they passed, it lashed out with its tail and sent another knight tumbling off his horse. Blacknail sighed as observed the conflict. This wasn’t going his side’s way. 

Sir Masnin seemed to have reached a similar conclusion, because he changed strategies. After turning around to face the Doom again, the riders shifted their formation and split into three equal sized groups. The third hung back behind the other two, who approached Myagnoir from opposite sides like before. Sir Masin and Ilisti led the forward groups, while Werrick led the back one. 

As they raced toward battle, Myagnoir attempted to raise another swirling shield of freezing air. However, as the vortex began to spin around him, a lance of hissing flame shot out of the ruins and slammed into it, scattering the winds and briefly washing over the drake’s hide. The surviving mage from Blacknail’s group appeared to still be in the fight. Good. Myagnoir was undamaged by the magical attack but snarled angrily as it turned to face the riders charging it. Its blue feathery crest rippled as if to display its rage at being challenged. 

Myagnoir tensed up as if in preparation to fight, but the approaching knights didn’t immediately attack. Instead, the first two groups split up and rode past it, before quickly turning around. Growling, Myagnoir could only watch as it was encircled, and only then did  Sir Masnin and Ilisti lead their forces in. They moved cautiously as the advanced all at once. Blacknail smiled to himself. It was obvious Sir Masnin was planning on pinning the Doom down so that the third group of knights could get strike a powerful blow. That was a good way to hunt something so big and nasty. 

The Doom of Coroulis didn’t like being surrounded. It snarled and hissed as it lashed out with its claws and tail. The riders under Sir Masnin’s command were being cautious, but they still took a few hits. Two knights were thrown off their mounts, although one got back onto his feet. As Blacknail watched, a third rider was bitten in half by a snap of Myanoir’s jaws. He wouldn’t be getting back up. 

The knights weren’t ineffective, though. Ilisti dismounted from his horse and rushed in on foot. Dodging a claw, he then countered with a slash of his own. His heat-lance cut through scales, leaving a smoking gash on Myagnoir’s leg. Enraged, Myagnoir turned to face him and hunched down as if to pounce. That was when Sir Masnin ran in and stabbed one of the beast’s back legs. He’d also dismounted. 

Startled, Myagnoir yelped and almost lost its balance as it flinched. Off balance, it lashed out at Sir Masnin with its tail. The paladin took a glancing blow and was knocked backwards. He then fell and rolled across the ground but got up a second later. He didn’t seem wounded. It was hard to hurt a Vessel in full armor. 

Taking advantage of the distraction, Lord Ilisti charged at the beast. Myagnoir responded by swiping at him with a claw, but the beast was still off balance, and the vympir was able to duck under the attack. He then stabbed the Myagnor in the chest with the lance. The weapon hissed and smoked as it sunk almost a foot into the beast’s flesh. 

Roaring in pain and rage, Myagnoir jumped back. Its eyes glowed menacingly as it gathered mana, and upon landing, there was a flash of blue light. Blacknail blinked. For second, it seemed like everyone had frozen in surprise, but that wasn’t right. Their upper bodies were still moving. Their lower bodies were simply stuck to the ground by ice that had risen up from the earth. 

Steam rose from the human’s boots as their amulets fought to free them, but they weren’t quite fast enough. Ilisiti pulled one foot free, but before he could get the other, Myagnoir spun and hit him with a swing of his tail. The was a metallic ringing and the vympir was sent flying. He hit a pile of stone next to the road, sending up a cloud of dust. 

Blacknail winced and then looked down the road. He sensed something was amiss. What was taking Werrick so long? 

Bane of Humanity 9

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After spotting the ruins of Couroulis off in the distance, Blacknail returned to the camp to report what he’d seen. All the members of Sir Masnin’s expedition were relieved to learn that they were headed in the right direction and that their destination was in sight. After their flight from the dark woods and its spider inhabitants, some good news was welcome. As the humans rested around their campfires and tended to their wounds, many of them cheered. Blacknail was a little insulted by their doubt in his tracking abilities, but he supposed they were simply being cowardly city humans, and he couldn’t blame them for that. 

As per Sir Masnin’s orders, the expedition didn’t start moving again until the next morning. By then, they’d had time to rest up and everyone who’d been paralyzed by spider venom had recovered enough to walk or ride. Blacknail selected a narrow animal trail for them to follow as they got moving. His scouts had explored it yesterday. 

“Hmm, this trail is much smaller than the last. A larger one would allow us to travel faster,” Sir Masnin observed as he walked next to Blacknail near the front of the expedition. Everyone was walking in a line because the thick greenery and uneven ground made riding difficult. 

“There aren’t any larger paths. The ogres are gone, and there doesn’t seem to be very many other big beasts around here, just lots of small ones.”

Sir Masnin sighed in disappointment. “Well, at least that means we should be relatively safe.” 

Later that day, two human warriors fell off a cliff and died. They’d been lured to the edge by the unexpected sound of human voices – which had actually been made by a hidden harpy – and then another harpy had swooped down from concealment in the nearby trees and knocked them both off the edge. The tumble against the rocks killed both men, allowing the two harpies to swoop down and feast upon their bodies unimpeded.  

There was nothing the other members of the expedition could do but continue moving. Climbing down the cliff would be dangerous and take far too long, and the harpies would simply see them coming and drag the bodies away if they tried. 

However, as they were trudging on, Werrick walked over to Sir Masnin and Blacknail. There was an angry scowl on his face and he spoke far louder than he had to. “Another two of my men are dead. This would never have happened if this hobgoblin had been scouting the way properly. This is his fault.”

Sir Masnin looked unconvinced and Blacknail simply let out a rude snort. 

“Use your brains. Harpies can move around by flapping their wings. It’s called flying,” Blacknail explained as he made a flapping gesture with both his hands. “No one can watch the entire forest for everything. I warned you and your men not to do anything stupid. Listen next time and keep better control over your bandits.” 

“Bah, as if a hobgoblin could be trusted. Your kind likes nothing better than to watch humans die.”

“He has my trust,” Sir Masnin interjected as he gave the Wolf a severe look. Blacknail’s glare was even less friendly. There were some humans who he’d like to see die much more than others. 

“Perhaps we would all be safer if you didn’t trust so easily,” Werrick replied coldly before walking away. 

Blacknail was unimpressed, and he snorted again as the man left. Unfortunately, the hobgoblin knew he hadn’t been Werrick’s real audience. Glancing at the nearby nobles, Blacknail noted that they’d all been listening intently. He then sighed in frustration. Stupid humans. They were making this too complicated. 

Thankfully, the rest of the day was uneventful. After hiking through the Green for many hours, they eventually came to a stop and camped for the night. Even better, no one else managed to get themselves killed over the next two days. Blacknail spent most of his time scouting up ahead of the rest of the expedition. He ran into quite a few mimics and other pests, but they were easy to go around or scare away. However, there was one concern. The mutant goat was still following him around. The creature would occasionally show up when Blacknail was alone and approach him. 

Blacknail attempted to lure it in closer by holding out bits of cheese, but whenever he tried to grab it, the beast slipped away. Most the time it also managed to snag the cheese. It was very frustrating, but at least the creature didn’t try to attack him. Keeping it happy with a few scraps of cheese was probably a good trade. 

On the third day, Blacknail stayed with the main part of the expedition. There, he spent most of his time walking near Sir Masnin or wandering through the trees next to the path as he listened in on other people’s conversations. He didn’t learn much. Most of the humans’ discussions seemed to focus on their desire not to be eaten by spiders or Myagnoir. That was understandable, but it wasn’t terribly interesting to listen to. 

Giving up on hearing any secret plans that his enemies were making, Blacknail rejoined Sir Masnin. They talked for a while as they compared hunting exploits. Sir Masnin was one of the few people that could come close to matching Blacknail’s impressive list of kills. The paladin definitely had some very impressive stories, but Blacknail was sure that Sir Masnin was exaggerating some parts to show off and one up him. That was fine, though. He was just insecure. 

However, the pair’s conversation was interrupted by an unexpected arrival. Without warning, the mutant goat walked out of the forest and stared at Blacknail. The hobgoblin grunted in annoyance as the entire expedition came to stop. 

“What does it want?” SIr Masnin asked. 

“Cheese,” Blacknail replied as he walked over and handed the goat a piece. It was probably better to give the beast what it wanted rather than risk it rampaging – or having its slimy tongue lick his face again. That had happened once before. The goat had been trying to get the crumbs clinging to Blacknail’s face, and it had been quite disgusting. Anyway, the beast really didn’t eat that much and he had plenty of cheese tucked away. Besides, the more he fed it, the more likely it was to lower its guard. Eventually, Blacknail would get the drop on it and teach it who was the boss. Any day now…

A nearby soldier made a face and pinched his nose. “That goat smells. Did it roll in something?” 

“I think that’s the cheese,” the man next to him replied before making a gagging nose.

“Don’t be jealous. You’re not getting any,” Blacknail told them as the goat disappeared back into the forest. 

The next day, the expedition crossed another river and then found themselves atop a hill that allowed them to see the walls of Coroulis off in the distance. They weren’t far now. Blacknail guessed that they were only a few hours away from the ruins of the city. Sir Masnin immediately called for everyone to halt and summoned all the leaders to him for a meeting. Blacknail was the first person he addressed. 

“I want your scouts searching for even the smallest hint of drake activity as we approach the city. If Myagnoir is alive, I want to know it long before we see him.” 

“Me too,” Blacknail replied with a nod. That was kind of important to know if he didn’t want to get eaten.

The mages were the paladin’s next concern. “I want you to check over your equipment and make sure all of it is ready to be used at a moment’s notice. When you’re done with that, every amulet and fire lance should be placed in the hands of our most capable warriors.”

“I’ll be taking one of those,” Ilisiti remarked. 

Sir Masnin simply nodded. “I wasn’t thinking of denying you one. You’re without a doubt one of our deadliest fighters.” 

“I want one too,” Khita said. She’d followed Blacknail here without really being invited. 

The paladin made a sour face. “We’ll see.” 

“I thought the beast was supposed to be long gone or dead?” a nervous noble asked. “That’s what we were told before we came on this expedition!” 

“No, you were told that might be the case,” the paladin replied sternly. “Regardless, I plan on being prepared for the worst. Returning without the silver isn’t an option.” 

No one had any arguments against that – that they were willing to voice anyway – so the meeting was soon called to an end, and the expedition started forward again. As per Sir Masnin’s orders, Blacknail headed out to lead the scout vanguard himself. He wanted to handle this personally anyway, so that he knew none of his minions were messing up. 

However, despite a thorough search of the forest by Blacknail and his scouts, they found no conclusive evidence as to whether Myagnoir was still nearby. There were plenty of old trails, claw marks cut into bark, and toppled tree, but none of them seemed to be from within the last few years. A large drake had certainly been in the area, but not recently. That didn’t mean Myagnoir was gone though. It might have just moved on to a different hunting area on the other end of the city. Coroulis was a large city and the Green was incredibly vast. 

When the expedition finally reached the outskirts of the abandoned city, Blacknail had to explain this to Sir Masnin, who was not happy to hear it. He frowned and glanced at the nearby bushes as the hobgoblin talked. 

“I could circle around the city and check for tracks. That would answer your question, but it would probably take a day or two to do right,” Blacknail explained as the lead part of the expedition came to stop. 

The gates of Coroulis loomed ahead of them. Made of grey stone blocks with a massive arch at their peak, they were an impressive sight, although it was obviously a ruin. The twisted remnants of its once mighty doors lay on the ground before it, leaving the way into the city permanently open. The forest had also creeped right up to the walls. Trees grew below its ramparts and vines dangled from its heights. Beyond the gates, the members of the expedition could see cobbled streets and crumbling buildings. 

Sir Masnin stared into the city silently for several moments before replying. “No, we don’t have time for that. Before us lies a great monument to the fragile nature of human civilization, and that omen cannot be ignored. Every moment we delay costs humanity dearly and pushes us closer to the edge of annihilation. We will simply have to enter the city under the assumption that the monster still lives.”

“Good luck. I’ll wait out here for you,” Blacknail told him.

“I’ll need your help locating the silver and scouting the city.”

Blacknail sighed. Of course. He’d been expecting a reply like that. “I wasn’t hired to fight giant drakes. I’m here to guide you, that’s all.” 

“And you won’t be forced to fight the Doom. However, there is still scouting that needs done, within the ruins.”

“What about if Myagnoir attacks me?”

“Flee or fight, that’s up to you. On my word as a paladin, I will aid you to the greatest of my ability.” 

“Thanks,” Blacknail replied sourly. 

When everyone had gathered, Sir Masnin addressed them. “We’ll be entering the city shortly. The main body of the expedition will stay together in formation so that we can respond quickly to any attack and protect our vulnerable members. Meanwhile, small scouting groups will search the city as we move. There is no reason to fear, our quest has both mighty warriors with supernatural strength and the most powerful mage-made weapons ever forged. Carry on, and soon we will be heading home as heroes to match any figure of legend.” 

It was rousing speech that seemed to stiffen the spine of several humans, but Blacknail still found himself staring apprehensively at the gate ahead as the party began moving again. He didn’t much care for being a hero, and the derelict gate loomed like the maw of a great stone beast that was about to bite. Blacknail really wanted to stay on this side of it. His instincts were screaming that entering the city was a bad idea, but he didn’t have much choice but to do as Sir Masnin asked. His own plans demanded it. 

The first thing Blacknail noticed as he entered the city was the quiet. The sounds of the living forest disappeared. The walls kept the sound from outside out, and the city itself was an almost silent maze of crumbling stone. Blacknail didn’t like it. It was unnatural for a place out in the Green. The forest and its inhabitants should have penetrated the city more. 

Once the entire expedition was through the gates and had assembled itself into a box-like formation with the mages in the center, Sir Masnin motioned for Blacknail to head out. Blacknail scowled back at the paladin but did as he was told. If a giant mutant did attack him, he was definitely leading it straight back to the humans. That would serve them right. 

Muttering darkly to himself, Blacknail wandered out into the city with Herah and half of his hobgoblins in tow. His other minions – minus Khita, who was useless – headed off in another direction. They weren’t alone. There were also two groups of human scouts as well. Blacknail hoped they got eaten first and screamed loudly enough to warn everyone else. Hopefully, the Doom would then go after the main formation and get burned to ash by all the fire magic they were packing. That would be the best outcome, but probably not what actually happened. Blacknail’s luck wasn’t nearly that good, especially when it came to mutants. They were always getting in Blacknail’s way. 

Really though, how dangerous could one mutant drake be? Taking out a city this size seemed impressive, but humans were always having their villages and towns destroyed. The North was littered with their ruins. Sometimes they were even destroyed by human bandits, which weren’t all that scary. Famines were apparently a common problem too, which was rather embarrassing for the humans. Finding food out in the Green wasn’t that hard. Ya, Myagnoir couldn’t be all that dangerous. The humans had probably overreacted and gotten themselves killed while they ran around like terrified mice before a cat. Myagnoir probably wasn’t much tougher than some of the other mutants Blacknail had killed.

Feeling moderately better about his chances of survival, Blacknail continued his exploration of the vacant city. It was certainly an interesting place, and a nice change of scenery after spending so long in the forest. The old paved roads had seen better days and had a lot of grass and bushes growing up through their stones, but it was still mostly flat and easy to traverse. There were also a lot of hollowed out buildings with collapsed roofs and walls. A surprising number of buildings with slate roofs were still standing though. They were overgrown, but still looked sturdy. 

Walking over to inspect one well-preserved home, Blacknail took a moment to look over the stonework. Some of it was rather pretty. Coroulis must have been quite the city back before all its humans died horribly. Now, the ruins had an eerie feel to them, although scavengers had long since disposed of all the human corpses, except for the occasional solitary bone. All the stone radiated cold – despite the sun overhead – and the entire place felt hollow. Hungry even. Blacknail didn’t like it. It gave him the jitters. 

As he was studying the exterior of the house, something white caught Blacknail’s eyes, so he turned to study the shadows behind the house. Under some bushes, stood a small pile of snow and ice. The hobgoblin stared at it for a moment. Myagnoir was supped to have ice powers, right? There hadn’t been any ice out in the Green. It had long since melted… No, he was probably overthinking this. Blacknail stepped away.

There were surer signs of Myagnoir’s presence that Blacknail could look for. All the stone and bricks made finding tracks difficult, but far from impossible. Moving back to the nearest street, the hobgoblin began studying the ground. He quickly found what he was looking for. Claw marks and indentations on the stone where something incredibly massive had walked. Thankfully, none of the marks seemed recent. Blacknail ran a finger along one gouge and then licked it. That didn’t help with tracking at all, but the stone had some tasty salt residue on it. 

Getting back up, Blacknail scanned the ruins of the city around him as his minions shuffled nervously. Crumbling buildings of various sizes surrounded him. Parts of the city had been built on a slope, so he could see many more buildings rising up off in the distance. One building in particular stood out, a massive stone keep. It looked like it used to have four towers, but only one was still standing. Blacknail stared at it for several seconds, and then started walking over to it. It was as good a place to look as any. 

Warily, Blacknail and his minions walked around a street corner and past a tree that was growing up through the middle of the road. The keep was now directly ahead of him. He was planning to try to climb up onto its walls in order to get a better view, but he stopped upon noticing some more tracks on the ground in front of him. Bending down, he studied them, and a shiver went down his spine. These were fresh. Something with gigantic claws that could scar stone had been here within the last couple days. 

“We’re heading back, now!” Blacknail hissed at his minions as he turned around. 

All the nearby hobgoblins acknowledged his orders and started to follow him, but then everyone flinched as a cold breeze washed over them. Goosebumps rose on Blacknail’s skin and he had to bite down to stop his teeth from chattering. 

“Did you feel that boss?” Herah asked him. 

Blacknail had already picked up his pace. “Yes, run!” 

Moving as quickly as he could without having his minions make enough noise to announce themselves to the entire city, Blacknail ran back toward where he had left Sir Masnin and the nobles. He wasn’t fleeing in terror. No, he simply had some very important information to report. Yes, that was it. 

As the first human riders came into sight, Blacknail felt relieved. There was Sir Masnin at the front, looking strong and all shiny in all his armor. Behind him, rode over a dozen heavily armed human warriors, and behind them were the three mages with their fire staffs. Still more warriors held up the rear, including Ilisti and his men. Blacknail hurried toward them and safety… so that he could give his report. That was important. 

Suddenly, there was a loud crack from behind Blacknail. Spinning around, he spotted something that caused his heart to skip a beat. A massive grey drake with a blue crest on its head was leaning on a building about two hundred feet away. With its front legs on the roof, it could stretch up and get a commanding view of its surroundings and see over all the nearby buildings, but right now its yellow eyes were locked directly on Blacknail. The hobgoblin went rigid as he saw the ravenous power lurking in the drake’s eyes, and then the beast growled. As a sound like boulders grinding against each other washed over Blacknail, it brought with it a wave of freezing air that stung his skin and chilled his bones. 

Uh oh. 

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